Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) Increases Dividend to $0.55 Per Share

Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Nucor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54.

Nucor has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 52 years. Nucor has a payout ratio of 25.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Nucor to earn $9.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.9%.

Nucor Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NUE opened at $117.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.28. Nucor has a 52 week low of $113.94 and a 52 week high of $203.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.55.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.09. Nucor had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. The firm had revenue of $7.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nucor will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on NUE. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Nucor in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Nucor from $170.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Nucor from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 target price (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nucor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.75.

Insider Transactions at Nucor

In other Nucor news, EVP Kenneth Rex Query sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total value of $1,321,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,499,436. The trade was a 8.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen D. Laxton sold 4,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.53, for a total value of $798,825.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,923,837.96. This trade represents a 5.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,680 shares of company stock valued at $4,773,724 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Nucor

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. It operates in three segments: steel mills, steel products, and raw materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; plate steel products; wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and H-piling and sheet piling structural steel products; bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products; and engages in the steel trading and rebar distribution businesses.